138 
PARK AND 
CEMETERY. 
The President's Address. 
Ladies and Gentlemen — The pleasure of meeting with you 
in this Twentieth Annual Convention is mingled with feel- 
ings of deep appreciation for the privilege of presiding, 
which you have accorded me. 
With the purpose of encouraging efforts for the extension 
of our work as a society and maintaining it as the great 
national representative of our calling, it may be deemed ex- 
cusable if a few statements made elsewhere are repeated. 
The Association aims to benefit the cemeteries of America 
by bringing together in friendly intercourse from all parts 
of the country, the people who are the most interested and 
most skilled in the various practices of cemetery work ; by 
affording an opportunity of seeing the best examples of 
cemetery development under the most favorable circum- 
stances and of becoming acquainted with the leading ceme- 
teries and their methods; by the presentation and discus- 
sion of papers on all subjects pertaining to the work and the 
privilege of questioning those whose experience and quali- 
fications make them specialists of the various lines involved. 
The Association's success in attaining the object sought is 
attested by the following: It has been conducted for twenty 
years on the lines indicated, so that ics value cannot be con- 
sidered doubtful or experimental, and during this time it 
has received the support and commendation (and continues 
to do so) of the most capable men in cemetery work, both 
among active superintendents and officers and from men of 
wide repute in commercial and profession lines who find 
time from other and larger interests to devote to cemetery 
matters, and who exercise keen judgment in their opinions. 
During the existence of the Association and as a result of 
its efforts and influence, the most noticeable improvement 
has been made in the appearance of cemeteries throughout 
the country. The examples of good management set by the 
members and developed through this Association, have been 
followed by many who have unfortunately failed to aid in 
its support, but its influence has been recognized and the 
good work continued until the standard of landscape work- 
in American cemeteries now takes rank with that in the 
best parks of the world. 
As evincing its present character, the Cyclopaedia of 
American Horticulture (the leading authority) designates 
the Association of American Cemetery Superintendents as 
“one of the three societies (the oldest) conserving the land- 
scape gardening and rural art of the country.” The Chicago 
Public Library now catalogues the printed reports and we 
have recently been enabled to complete the file at the Uni- 
versity of Illinois, where the reports are used by the depart- 
ment of horticulture in their course on landscape gardening. 
The Boston Book Company has made repeated efforts to 
secure a full set for this purpose. This teaches us that 
the reports should be improved to the utmost and made as 
valuable as possible, so as to fulfill the expectations of those 
who place confidence in them. It furnishes a new standard 
of value for the reports themselves as well as for the Asso- 
ciation, inasmuch as its work can no longer be regarded as 
confined to the membership but must be regarded as broadly 
educational. This is as it should be and places greater re- 
sponsibility upon the society as a whole and its influence in 
this direction should be extended. Wherever one of our 
members is in touch with a college or library he should fur- 
nish the institution with a copy of the current report, if ac- 
ceptable. which it doubtless will be and thereafter supply 
it regularly each year. 
The reports have an historical value as containing records 
of growth in the work that cannot fail of encouragement 
to those who are engaged in it. To one who will spend a 
few hours during the year to glance through the old papers. 
much good will come in fresh understanding of the princi- 
ples we advocate, which are sometimes dulled by daily con- 
tact with adverse opinion; and in many of the papers will 
be found literary merit that will give pleasure to the reader. 
The educational value of the Association is also found in the 
incentive which it gives to habits of thought among its mem- 
bers, in causing them to pursue various lines of inquiry for 
the benefit of themselves and others. The cemetery super- 
intendent lives near to nature and he is expected to acquire 
an intimacy with her various forms and it is his duty to 
use this knowledge for the welfare of .others, both within 
and without his own grounds. 
Pride in his profession and the certainty of improvement 
should place every cemetery superintendent and officer on 
the rolls of the Association. A due regard for his grounds 
should cause every cemetery director to desire representa- 
tion at its meetings. Nearly every profession has its tech- 
nical school. The calling of the cemetery superintendent is 
one requiring a knowledge of many professions. The grad- 
uate in one is only partly fitted to fulfill its duties and his 
success is influenced by his familiarity with all. There is 
no finishing institution to furnish him a diploma, but the 
.'\ssociation of American Cemetery Superintendents offers 
an opportunity to acquire proficiency in the solution of the 
problems which confront him. 
As to the general method of making effective the. princi- 
ples for which we strive and impressing them upon those 
whom it is desired ultimately to benefit, i. e., the lot owner 
in our cemeteries. It is proposed to enlist first the greatest 
possible number of cemetery officials, througb them the trus- 
tees and with the co-operation of both, the lot owner. To this 
end, in attracting new members, exert special efforts in the 
locality of the convention, for obvious reasons. To hold 
those who attend, make the convention itself of such imme- 
diate and absorbing interest as to cause everyone to wish to 
return. To interest the trustees, show practical advantages 
and actual results. Let each superintendent who attends 
these meetings show his board at least one instance where 
he has improved his cemetery or saved it some money bv 
means of something he has learned through this Associa- 
tion. To enlist the lot owner, let the superintendent be 
guided by the counsel he gives. That is, let his work show 
that benefits follow the application of his advice. If he ad- 
vocates an unobstructed lawn, make the results in care show 
its superiority over the old style, stone-interrupted surface. 
It is useless to express opinions unless something is ac- 
complished by applying them. My own observation is that 
the public readily accept the point of view of the superin- 
tendent, just as it would accept the opinion of any expert, 
when the appearance of his grounds illustrates its advan- 
tages. As one example of this, no difficulty is found in 
selling lots on which monuments or elevated graves arc 
prohibited when the purpose of the rule is seen by a com- 
parison with less regulated sections; and lot owners long 
ago ceased questioning the advisability of restrictions in size 
and quantity of stone work. 
Two matters of particular importance are presented for 
your consideration at this time. The first relates to appli- 
cations for membership which have been received from 
cemetery officers resident in Great Britain. There is no 
doubt but that those we have received, from gentlemen of 
standing at home, will be a credit to our society, and while 
such have been accepted it is without sanction on the part 
of the constitution, and it is suggested that an associate 
membership or something of this character be established 
for the reception of those applicants who do not come within 
the scope of the original organization. This might be made 
to include a large class of officials who are unable to attend 
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